Steam-turbine blower



W. McCLAVE.

STEAM TURBINE BLOWER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-25. 1917.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

W. McCLAVE.

I STEAM TURBINE BLOWER.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT-25,1917.

1,328,285, Patented J an. 20, 1920.

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Emmi-5 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

WILLIAM MQCLAVE, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO McCLAVE-BBOOKSCOMPANY, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

STEAM-TURBINE BLOWER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

Application filed September 25, 1917. Serial No. 193,167.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TVILLIAM MGCLAVE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSteam- Turbine Blowers; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to steam turbine blowers of that type wherein therotor of the turbine is rigidly connected with the 1m.- peller of theblower and rotates in unison therewith, the objects of the inventionbelng to improve upon and overcome difficulties found to exist in theturbine blower disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,165,796, dated Dec.28,1915.

The invention consists in certain novel details of construction andcombinations and arrangements of parts all as will be hereinafterdescribed and pointed out particularly in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a steam turbine blower embodying thepresent improvements. p

Fig. 2 is a section of the same in a vertical plane longitudinally ofthe axis of the rotor and impeller shaft.

Fig. 3 is a detail section substantially in a plane indicated by thedottediline 3'3 Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a detail section in a vertical plane indicated by the dottedline ir-4 in Fig. 2.

Like reference characters in the several figures indicate the sameparts.

The similarity of the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 to thestructure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the patent before mentionedwill be at once ap arent from lnspection and therefore it is t oughtunnecessary to herein enter into a detailed description of those partswhich are common to the two structures, further than to say that thecylindrical casing A which is adapted to be built into the wall of asteam boiler furnace is in the present instance provided at its lowerpart with a bracket a for holding a forward end of the exhaust pipe Awhich leads from the rotor chamber, andconsequently the form of thecasing A is somewhat simplified. The two-part rotor casing or housing isconnected with the front flange of the casing A by distance posts B, andin the present instance the inner part E of the rotor housing isprovided with it vertical duct 6 which communicates with the top andbottom of a chamber which surrounds the rotor and impeller shaft G,immediately adjacent the inner wall which defines the chamber for therotor. The external face .of the innerhalf of the rotor housing or thatface toward the impeller C is curved in accordance with the principlesset forth in the before mentioned patent, and is formed with an internalchamber F preferably communieating at its upper and lower portionthrough openings f with the duct e.

The object of the duct 0 as well as that of a somewhat similar duct onthe outer side of the casing to be presently described, is to providefor the circulation of a current of air through the wall of the casingand around the shaft in order to keep the temperature of the parts downand to avoid the injurious consequences of heating by conduction orradiation from the rotor chamber under long continued and severe workingconditions. To promote the circulation of air and in effect to providefor a forced circulation, the upper end of the duct 0 is provided withan ejector nozzle or aspirating discharge opening at c. This may beconveniently formed by an insert 6 which is secured in place andprojects slightly above the curved wall of the rotor casing in adirection in which the currents of air flow to the impeller. In orderthat the intake of the duct 6 may be somewhat removed fromv theaspirating effect or effect of-the vacuum created by the impeller, theintake end of the duct is extended by a bifurcated insert 6 secured tothe lower face of the rotor casing and preferably having itsbifurcations extended down on each side of the boss into which theexhaust pipe A screws as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The frontsection E of the rotor casing isprovided on the outer side of the walldefining the rotor chamber with an air inlet opening or duct h at thebottom and an exhaust duct h at the top, which latter communicates withan aspiration cap or nozzle H, the discharge end H of which extends intothe air intake channel above the nozzle e. The nozzle H is to secure theadvantages of a long life for the parts under continuous load andadverse conditions, the two sections of the rotor housing are formedwith internal chambers around the openings for the shaft, and in thesechambers there are mounted leakage prevention members which areconveniently duplicates of each other and a description of one of whichwill sufdce for both. Each chamber in the housing is formed for thereception of the cup-like member I having top and bottom openingsregistering with the ducts e or 72, as the case may be, and eachcup-like member is provided with a cover or closure 1 adapted to be heldin place and the cup-like member in position by fastening screws 2'passing into the rotor chamber walls. The cup-like member and itsclosure form a chamber having parallel radial inner faces and betweenthese faces there is mounted a floating member, preferably held againstrotation, but free to move laterally in unison with the shaft. Thisfloating member is formed by a carbon block K which fits closely aboutthe shaft, and a two part inclosing box, the sections and is of whichare threaded together so as to closely embrace the carbon block at theends and periphery and to themselves form tight sliding bearings workingagainst the radial faces of the cup-like member and its closure. Thisconstruction provides for a relatively large radiating surface fromwhich heat will be extracted by the air currents and at the same time itprevents steam leaka e along the shaft, although it is obvious t at anyleakage that may escape will be at once carried off through the airducts and will be discharged into the air flowing to the impeller.

The bearings which support the shaft are conveniently and preferablylocated at widely separated points, one being preferably located withinthe hollow hub of the impeller itself and the other at the outer end ofthe shaft. Said bearings, as shown, are radial ball bearings M, and inaddition there is a thrust bearing N for taking up the thrust of theimpeller, said thrust bearing being located at the outer end of theshaft, as in the patent hereinbefore referred to.

Between the inner bearing and the wall of the rotor chamber the shaft ispreferably The oil level is determined bythe height of the openingslaterally of the bearings and is preferably such that the lower portionof the movable parts of the bearings will dip into the lubricant. Asomewhat similar construction is adopted in connection with the front orouter bearing. That is to say, as

shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the housing for the bearing is extendedlaterally on each side, as shown at Q, .and provided with openingsthrough which lubricant can be supplied, which openings face upwardlyand are adapted to be closed by screw plugs g. The lateral extensions ofthe bearing housing not only provide a convenient means for supplyingthe lubricant to the bearing but they constitute reservoirs which willhold a relatively large quantity of lubricant and have large radiatingsurfaces tending to dissipate any heat which might be injurious to thelubricant or the bearing.

The rotor which is preferably of the construction set forth in thehereinbefore men'- tioned patent is indicated by the reference letter R,and it will be understood that it is adapted to be actuated by steamjets one or all of which may be thrown into or out of action, as setforth in detail in said patent.

What is claimed is: a

1. In a steam turbine blower the combination with a rotor, animpeller'spaced therefrom and a shaft common to the rotor and impeller,of a rotor housing and air ducts leading through the walls of saidhousing in proximity to the shaft and discharging into the intake forthe impeller whereby cooling air will be drawn through said ducts.

2. In a steam turbine blower, the combination with a rotor, an impellerspaced therefrom, and a shaft common to the rotor and impe-ller, of ahousing for the rotor, chambers formed in said housing in proximity tothe shaft on each side of the rotor chamber, and air ducts communicatingwith said chambers and through which air is caused to circulate by theoperation of the impeller.

3. In a steam turbine blower, the combination with a rotor, an impellerspaced therefrom, a shaft common to the rotor and impeller, and bearingsin which said shaft is journaled, of a housing for the rotor, aircirculating ducts in said housing intermediate the rotor chamber andshaft bearings,

and means under the control of the impeller for creating a circulationof air through said ducts.

4%. In a steam turbine blower, the combination with a rotor, an impellerspaced therefrom, a shaft common to the rotor and impeller, a housing,bearings for the shaft mounted in said housing, said housing beingprovided with chambers surrounding the shaft intermediate the rotor andbearings, and ducts communicating with said chambers having theirdischarge openings in the impeller intake, whereby the operation of theimpeller will cause a circulation of air through said duct and chamher.

5. In a blower, the combination of a steam chamber, an impeller spacedthere-.

from, an oil reservoir, a shaft for the impeller passing through saidreservoir, means for preventing passage of fluid from the chamber to thereservoir and vice versa, and means dependent upon the impeller forcooling said passage preventing means.

6. In a steam turbine blower, the combination of a roller housing, animpeller casing, an air duct and a chamber between said housing andcasing, and means for causing a circulation of air through said duct andsaid chamber.

WILLIAM MoCLAVE.

